Altar of Nightmares
by Draconic-Master
Summary: When darkness slips in, pure darkness... sometimes being tough isn't enough... rated for a part towards end and language


It's a slight bit late, but it's All Saint's Day today so it kinda counts... It's something I thought up on the 30th and been working on up until today- so ignore all typos if you see them, it was typed fast.

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Darkness crept down the hall, a seething sea of black, looking for its prey. Demyx was prodded into wakefulness by a finger digging into his ribs.

"What the hell is that?" Roxas whispered to him and he rolled his eyes over to see this dark wave removing all color that was left in The World that Never Was seeping towards the castle. Demyx blinked, rubbed at his eyes and, once he realized it was real, promptly freaked out- portalling away. Roxas blinked for a second before summoning his keyblades, taking a fighting stance.

"Hey Rox- What the hell?" Axel trailed off, staring at this darkness. Xigbar beside him seemed just as surprised but the two quickly recovered, summoning their weapons quickly and running to join Roxas- Xigbar already firing at this almost fog-like darkness as Axel threw a fire-laced chakram at it. All of a sudden Axel stopped, hand held out as if summoning his chakram back.

"What's the matter?" Xigbar asked.

"I can't call it back..." Axel answered, brows furrowed in concentration.

"What?"

"I can't summon my damn weapon back, what do you think I meant?" Axel snapped before summoning a wall of fire between Roxas and the darkness, holding tight to his one chakram, sensing fear keenly. "Pull back Roxas!" He shouted and Roxas walked backwards, still wary. Axel focused harder on the flames, sending his chakram away as the flames grew bigger, hotter, and brighter. As Roxas reached the older Nobodies, Axel shivered, concentrating harder, but suddenly the fire was snuffed out like a candle. Axel stared in shock before Xigbar started dragging him away.

"What is that thing?" Roxas yelled.

"Pure darkness!" Xigbar shouted with a hint of terror and panic in his voice. Axel just stared back into the darkness creeping after them, still in shock and kinda scared now as it crept closer even as Xigbar ran. They slammed through a set of doors and Roxas locked them behind the group. Xigbar pulled Axel to his feet fully. "Roxas, go warn Luxord, Zexion, and Lexaeus- Axel, warn Marluxia, Larxene and find Demyx- I'll warn the rest**. Don't** portal and come to the Proof of Existence." Roxas nodded and took off. Axel didn't move- just stared at the door before Xigbar punched him in the shoulder, "Move!" Axel looked at him with dead eyes.

"You can't fight against that..." Axel's voice was low and had more than a bit of fear in it- and a touch of hollowness to it. Xigbar stared at the normally energetic pyro for a while.

"Axel- we're Organization XIII." Xigbar said simply before using his power over space to get to Xemnas. Axel stared back at the door before walking up the stairs to the Proof where Larxene stood, staring at her marker.

"Larxene- stay here." Axel told her and she turned, scowling, before she saw him.

"Look- I don't... What the hell happened to you?" She asked and he shook his head.

"Where's Marluxia?"

"His room- Demyx came through here earlier if that's what's going on."

"Which way?" Larxene pointed towards the Nocturne's room and Axel nodded before walking towards it.

"What's going on?"

"Darkness." Axel answered simply.

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Roxas got to the top of the stairs and ran straight into a kind of hard object.

"Watch where you're going!" Zexion snapped as Roxas looked up.

"Zexion, you're needed in the Proof of Existence- there's an emergency." Zexion paused before replying.

"Something to do with darkness- I can smell it everywhere." Roxas nodded.

"Where are Lexaeus and Luxord?"

"Number V is in the library... X is..." The Schemer sniffed the air, paused, and tried again. "I think he may be in the kitchen- I'm not completely sure, this darkness is filling my senses." Roxas took off towards the library as Zexion went downstairs.

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"Xemnas!" Xigbar shouted as he 'appeared' in the Superior's room. Xemnas looked up at the Freeshooter, as well as Saix sitting beside him- stopping their discussion over paperwork. "We have a problem." Xigbar claimed- quickly explaining the situation.

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Within the next five minutes, the whole of Organization XIII was assembled in the Proof- short one melodious Nocturne who wouldn't come out of his room, and might as well have been short one Flurry of Dancing Flames. Axel still seemed hollow- as if the fire he had used to attack had been pulled straight out of him. Demyx had run screaming from him because of how he was now acting.

"So- how do we fight darkness?" Marluxia asked, scythe in hand.

"We can't..." Axel said, voice hollow, "... not this kind..."

"We wait for it to take form." Xemnas told them- slightly surprised as well at Axel's behavior. "Zexion?"

"Yes, Superior?" Number VI looked up from his book- attempting to find something about their situation in it.

"Can you tell if this darkness has taken form yet?" Zexion paused and smelled the air for a while- confused slightly.

"I still cannot tell- the darkness is too thick..." The Schemer told him, still focused on attempting to sense anything outside of the room. The castle shook suddenly- almost like an earthquake. The Organization was thrown to the ground and parts of the ceiling fell, hitting some of the Nobodies. Xemnas pulled himself up, managing to toss the somewhat large rock that was on him off to the side- destroying Xaldin's marker by accident.

"Report!" He yelled, seeing the rubble- a couple of other markers had been knocked over as well.

"Number II, Xigbar- I've got a dislocated arm... hold up-" There was a sloppy, sickening pop accompanied by a slight yelp off to Xemnas' right, "I'm good now!"

"Number III, Xaldin- There's a metal support beam through my arm. It probably won't be fixed anytime soon, it's bent around my arm."

"Number IV, Vexen- I'm still here with a couple of bumps..."

"V... Lexaeus... huge beam... across chest..." Lexaeus spoke between gasps of air as Xigbar pulled Xaldin up and Vexen dusted himself off as he stood.

"Number VI, Zexion- crushed leg..." There was a dull thud, "And a headache."

"Number VII, Saix- fine." Xemnas paused for a second, knowing that Saix was probably torn up but logically able to move.

"..." There was a long silence.

"Number VIII?" Xemnas asked. Another long pause. "VIII!" Pause again. "Axel!"

"I can't see him, sir." Zexion said, "But I can sense that the darkness has taken form on the Altar of Naught. It would be best if we attacked now if possible."

"Everyone else is still here, sir..." Xemnas turned to see Demyx standing there- a huge bump on his head. Demyx grinned unusually- almost as if he was channeling some part of Axel's usual attitude. "I'm ready to fight."

"So am I." Marluxia said, leaning heavily on his scythe as Larxene beside him nodded. Xemnas nodded and started towards the Altar- summoning his weapons as quite a few members followed behind him. Zexion glared at the doorway for a while as he summoned up a few clones to attempt to move the beam off of Lexaeus and Luxord weakly raised himself up, arm and seemingly back both broken. Vexen scowled as the group walking up towards the Altar summoned their weapons- he was looking for Axel in the rubble, under orders from Xemnas, and to heal the others as best as possible.

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The group spread out on the Altar, seeing nothing at the moment except the Altar itself. Demyx plucked at his sitar for a second, summoning up a couple of water clones as Xigbar reloaded his guns, and Roxas spun his keyblades around nervously. Saix looked around, hands clutched tight around his claymore and eyes narrowed while Xaldin held a lance in his one good hand- the other being unusable- the wind whipped around him as his lances floated beside him. Larxene smiled wickedly as electricity shot between the kunai in her hands and Marluxia still leaned on his scythe, a rose in his other hand as he watched the area carefully. Xemnas stood calmly by appearances, light sabers held at downward angles and slowly moving his head back and forth to look around. There were footsteps from below as a redhead staggered into view, eyes still dead, and a chakram in one hand- it appeared that he had lost the second one to the darkness.

"I'm here." He said but suddenly darkness swept up over the side of the Altar, almost like black flames as the wind blew gale-force at it and water attempted to shoot it backwards- loud music coming from Demyx's sitar as he played to keep the water going. Xigbar let loose round after round- pausing only to reload- and Larxene shot electricity from her hands at the darkness. There was a sudden, sharp loss of strength out of the three using elemental powers to attack before Larxene shrieked suddenly, holding her head and staggering backwards. She dropped to the ground and convulsed slightly as Marluxia stared at her- utterly shocked before darkness washed over her frame, having come up behind her. He gave a yell and slashed at it with his scythe, creating a wall of thorny vines from the rose in his hand. The wall disappears into darkness as quickly as it was summoned by Marluxia- causing him to stop in shock and the darkness washes over his body like the ocean over the beach.

Screams echoed upwards from the Proof- the locked doors hadn't been enough. Vexen appeared at the top of the stairs for a second, throwing ice crystals back downwards before he disappeared in a swirl of darkness as well. Axel turned to look, raising his weapon to block but he dropped to the ground, terror evident in his eyes.

Roxas finally looked around- alone, he couldn't see anyone, only the spot on the floor that he stood on, keyblades crossed and a touch of light on the end of each blade. He felt a sense of shock run through him and he kept the blades crossed, focusing on that bit of light.

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Xemnas could feel tearing at his mind- like memories being ripped apart and put back together again, and it sent excruciating pain through his body. His voice rang out in a scream against empty walls in a room full of nothingness.

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Xigbar found his screams being ripped away by the vacuum surrounding him- ripping him to shreds as he attempted to protect himself, but nothing would do.

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Xaldin saw the shadowy figure above him- stabbing him again and again with his lances as the wind was whipped from his lungs. It didn't take a second for him to realize that the person standing above him was a beastly version of him.

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Vexen found himself reading and re-reading charts and charts of numbers- where there was no end to them and the numbers painfully etched themselves into his arms. The more he read, the more numbers appeared and slowly moved up his arms as his eyes bled and he couldn't take them away from the paper.

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Lexaeus found the weight on his chest again and was completely unable to move it as a slim figure started scratching his skin open- sending blood flying as it ripped deeper.

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Zexion shut his eyes tight- screaming faces stared out of blood-stained mirrors. Some people he didn't recognize... but some he did- like the image of his own face staring at him from the closest mirror.

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Saix found himself staring at a demonic shadow of himself- sharp teeth and narrow pupils drew into a demented grin as a clawed hand wrapped tight around Saix's neck.

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Axel found himself running through a firestorm, absolutely lost as the fire attempted to char his skin- and what scared Axel the most was the fact that he was completely alone as voices called for him to come, fading away slowly.

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The water that Demyx stood in was slowly rising... and a terrifying grin was on his reflection's face as Demyx struggled to keep his head above the water now.

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Time passes and comes again for Luxord- he watches each marker in the proof turn red as he hears the toiling of a bell thirteen times. On the thirteeth ring darkness overtakes the Proof of Existence sending it away just to come again to Luxord's eyes... there's nothing he can do as they turn red again, dripping blood.

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Marluxia sees vines strangline the life out of his fellow members and nyone who comes close- realizing that it's his laughter he hears echoing off the walls and he's the one controlling all of those vines.

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Larxene wasn't scared of nightmares of seeing herself ripped in two with blood flying everywhere- it was the sense of satisfaction she got from watching it happen agani and again that scared her the most.

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As the nightmares faded away from their eyes- the Organizatin got to their feet, dazed and still in shock, knowing that the dreams would probably echo through their minds for months if not years or even eternity. Roxas still stood in the same place- keyblades crossed and the weapons shining with light, having driven the darkness back just about by himself- he'd dreamt of sunshine and beaches, of close friends and adventure... of a heart thumping healthily in his chest.

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Please R+R! 


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